Hi Friend,

Happy Juneteenth! This year marks the first year that this important holiday is a federally recognized holiday. It is also interesting timing that we find ourselves called back for a Special Redistricting Session during this holiday, to re-draw fair legislative districts in Louisiana.

"I am pleased to see that the Court of Appeals is allowing this case to move forward on the merits. I am disappointed that in this age of the new millennium, the federal courts must still enforce Louisiana into complying with the Voting Rights Act. 

The court saw sufficient evidence to suggest that Louisiana can and should draw a Congressional map that creates two effective majority Black districts. The future of Louisiana would be in good hands with a diverse representation in Congress."

-Chairman Sam Jenkins
Louisiana House Democratic Caucus Chairman

The 2022 Regular Session adjourned on June 6th, and we are happy to share some legislative wins, and updates on our continued efforts to make Louisiana better for everyone.

We want to send special well-wishes to members Rep Pat Moore and Rep Kenny Cox, who unfortunately were forced to miss much of this session.
State Budget
Caucus members backed one of the biggest victories of the session: pay raises for educators. Thanks to our efforts, public school teachers will receive a $1,500 annual raise. Support workers will get $750 a year.
 
Caucus members also worked hard to include a total of $300 million in the budget that will fund programs and projects from one end of Louisiana to the other. Those projects range from $32 million to prevent catastrophic erosion at Southern University in Baton Rouge to a new $24 million investment in early childhood education. Those investments include $11.4 million for drainage improvements in Ouachita Parish, $3 million to restore False River in Pointe Coupee Parish, and $500,000 to fund a rigorous study of paid medical and family leave.
Civil Rights & Voting

HB 1083 by Rep Candace Newell. Includes “hair texture, natural hairstyles and protective hairstyles” as traits protected against discrimination in Louisiana. People should be allowed to wear their hair with the texture it grows naturally. 
HB 357 by Rep Sam Jenkins. Removes certain barriers that may delay a Parish President from being able to change a polling place when necessary. 
Health Care
HB 677 by Rep Edmond Jordan. To counter the continuing increase in the coast of insulin – a life-saving drug for diabetics – this bill caps the co-pay for insulin at $75 a month. This will mean many diabetics will not have to choose between a life-saving treatment or paying rent or buying food.  
HB 190 by Rep Travis Johnson. Authorizes certain nurse practitioners to recommend medical marijuana to patients
Local Government
HB 523 by Rep Jeremy LaCombe. Allows small brewers to hold private events at their breweries. A pro small-business bill. It cuts red tape and opened markets for small businesses.

HB 847 also by Rep Jeremy Lacombe. By eliminating the 25 percent local match for improvements or repairs to small utility systems, this bill will help deliver clean water, sewer capacity and natural gas services to more rural communities by allowing local governments to invest more in those systems. 
HB 567 by Rep Delisha Boyd. Creates a pilot program to study getting more fresh and local food into school lunch programs. Great bill for healthy students and for local farmers.
Families & Children
HB 887 by Rep Robby Carter. Includes a child, brother, or sister given in adoption in the class of persons with a right of action in a wrongful death or survival action, which will help protect adopted family members in an already difficult time.
HB 272 by Rep Patrick Jefferson. Provides for mental health evaluations in divorce and custody proceedings.
Insurance
HB 317 by Rep Matt Willard. Creates more transparency for homeowners on what deductibles are in their property insurance policies. Now, insurance policies will have a form detailing the amounts of each deductible for each kind of storm damage.
HB 682 by Rep Chad Brown. In light of difficulties with insurance companies and their adjuster that many homeowners reported in the wake of storm damage, this bill creates a database of all insurance adjusters licensed in Louisiana. It also instructs the Louisiana Department of Insurance to "prominently display a search tool on its website that the public can use to find a claims adjuster's profile."
HB 1005 by Rep Ed Larvadain. Provides for surety insurance.
Criminal Justice Reform
HB 517 by Rep Larry Selders With the goal of providing better medical outcomes for inmates in state prison, creates the Medical Advisory Council in the Department of Corrections.
HB 726 by Rep Rodney Lyons. Ends ‘debtors’ prisons” for criminal defendants who are unable to pay court fines and fees. This creates better opportunities for rehabilitation and re-entry into society.
HB 629 by Rep Marcus Bryant. Prohibits the search without a warrant of a person's place of residence for the odor of marijuana.
HB 729 by Rep Royce Duplessis. Eliminates the routine publishing of mug shots. Mug shots have historically been used to shame people who get arrested. They leave the public with the impression that a person featured is a criminal, even though they haven’t been convicted of a crime.
HB 745 by Rep Kyle Green Jr.. Gives the public more transparency into disciplinary actions taken against police officers by making those disciplinary actions public records. The bill also creates 'whistleblower' protections against firing or other retaliation for police officers who report "malfeasance in office by police employees."
HB 212 by Rep Dustin Miller. Excludes rapid fentanyl test strips or any testing equipment designed to determine whether a substance contains fentanyl or its analogues from the definition of "drug paraphernalia", which will help protect people who are trying to detect this deadly substance.
HB 775 by Rep Cedric Glover. Exempts with a legitimate medical marijuana recommendation from laws criminalizing the possession of paraphernalia.
HB 988 by Rep Mandie Landry. Protects state employees from workplace discipline for using properly recommended medical marijuana. Rep. Landry also passed HR 269 which creates the Employment and Medical Marijuana Task Force to study policies regarding employment and medical marijuana.
Education
HB 231 by Rep Ken Brass. Requires that universities and community colleges establish agreements that will allow students to transfer credits earned at a university to a community college upon transfer.
HB 548 by Rep Aimee Freeman. Requires the state Department of Education develops and distributes health and safety guidelines for digital devices in public schools.
HB 669 by Rep Vincent Pierre. Establishes criminal history background check requirements for every person engaged in the operation of private training or driving instructor school.
HB 911 by Rep Jason Hughes. Provides for additional literacy screenings for students in grades K-3, requires individual reading plans for certain students, and requires literacy coaches for teachers. There is a statistical link between reading proficiency in the 3rd grade and success later in life. This bill will help improve outcomes for students who struggle with reading.
HB 346 by Rep Francis Thompson. Provides for a program and a fund for the purpose of providing scholarships for students in approved teacher preparation programs. We need good teachers, and this is a great step towards supporting new teachers to get the training they need.
HR's & HCR's
HCR 15 by Rep Mack Cormier. Requests the Board of Regents purchase chest compression devices for certain public postsecondary education institutions.
HR 81 by Rep Barbara Carpenter. Requests a study by the Committee on Administration of Criminal Justice to study the crime of first-degree murder when the victim is the minor child of the offender.
Disaster Response
HB 1082 by Rep Randal Gaines. Updates procedures to make voting safer and more streamlined during a declared state of emergency.
HB 160 by Rep Mandie Landry. Protects renters from eviction during and after a declared disaster. This ends the practice by some landlords of using evacuations as a pretext for evicting tenants and their belongings from apartments and houses.


HB 1052 also by Rep Mandie Landry. Creates the Hazard Mitigation Revolving Loan Fund, which would provide financial assistance administered by the Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (GOHSEP) to help local government hazard mitigation projects. This would help local governments safeguard against natural disasters and hazards.
Culture Wars
Caucus members succeeded in blocking one of the right-wing’s favorite demeaning and divisive tactics, a bill that would block educators from discussing any aspects of human sexuality in classrooms. While aimed at repressing any mention of homosexuality, the bill would have prevented teachers from mentioning spouses or talking about their own families. Teachers are important role models and limiting their speech like this would make an already tough job even harder. Caucus members killed HB 837 in the House Education Committee and shot down a zombie version of the bill (HR 169) that popped up late in the session.
 
Again this year, Republicans filed a slate of bills focused on limiting and distorting how the history of slavery and race relation in America can be taught. Democrats led the opposition that killed all of those bills in the House Education Committee (HB 747, and HB 787).
We Will Keep Fighting
Again this year, Republicans rejected bill after bill brought by Democrats to raise the state’s minimum wage. Republicans even refused to let Louisiana voters decide about a small increase to the current $7.25 minimum wage. House Democrats know that an increased minimum wage means better lives for Louisiana workers and a better economy for Louisiana businesses. We will keep fighting. 
HB 229 by Rep Kyle Green Jr.. a constitutional amendment that would have allowed voters to decide on raising the minimum wage to $11.65.
HB 311 by Rep Denise Marcelle. Would have raised the minimum wage to $12 an hour over two years.
HB 472 by Rep Tammy Phelps. Would have raised the tipped-wage minimum wage from $2.13 an hour to $4.26.
HB 880 by Rep Wilford Carter . Would have gradually increased the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2026
All newly sworn in for 2022.
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Louisiana House Democratic Caucus | info@lahousedems.org